Eon - Poor_Payment_Processing - Premature issue of "Overdue Bill" reminder?

Unless_And_Until

Eon issued me with an "Overdue bill" E-mail on 30/07/2019, 6 days after I'd requested payment on-line through my bank account at 19:11, 25/07/2019 (Thursday).

The bill was dated 11/07/2019. 14 day grace period advertised by EON in their T's & C's.

I queried why it had taken so long to update my account.

Eon claim they didn't receive my payment until 27/07/2019 (Saturday) and that they have a five-day payment processing/account update standard.

On my request, my bankers carried out a payment trace on this Faster Payment and advised me that Eon received the payment @ 07:42 on 26/07/2019 (Friday).

So why the "Overdue bill" reminder ?

They had 5 clear days to do the payment processing and if my bankers had complied with the Faster Payments Standard to which they're signed-up (Any payment request made 3 hours before 23:55 each day, gets paid the same day) then it would be 5 and a bit days.

To me, the concept of a five-day account updating delay is out-of-date as a reasonable performance standard, given that Eon will be interfacing with banking systems and the like operating at daily/3-hour delivery standard.

There seems to be a disconnect in these organisations between the standards that they expect customers to conform to with regard to submission of meter readings and bill payment and the standards of the service they provide the customer with on the accounts.

I suspect that they just can't be arsed to invest in modern data processing equipment and software - too busy paying record remuneration to CEOs and shareholders.

So much for the "Regulator" !

I'm contacting EON CEO and the Regulator.

antrobus

The way I read rt; the bill was dated 11/07/2019, payment was due 14 days letter on 25/07/2019, payment was made one day past due on 26/07/2019.

Next time, don't leave it until the last minute. Why not just pay on receipt?

PennineAcute

And, to be honest, does it really matter that you got a reminder that may have crossed within their 14 day grace period?

Robin9

I agree with pennineacute - does it really matter ?

If you paid by a variable DD this so called "issue" would not arise.


PS If you think Eon are bad - have a look through the posts on this forum !

spiro

I think you will find the 14 days is when the money should be on your energy account not leaving your bank account. It is also the maximum so you should be paying as soon as possible after you get bill. Miss the 14 days and it becomes a debt in law.

Talldave

You paid late, so why are you whinging?

Please don't waste the regulator's time with such a trivial non-issue, they actually need to focus on important issues for other people.

Unless_And_Until

Me pensioner, living on an income equivalent to the Income Tax allowance. Hence big bills have to be juggled to fit around pension arrival dates (2 a month)

Firstly, issuing a reminder 5 days after the "Due date" is a bit sharp.

The UK late payment legislation says that on commercial transactions, for non-agreed payment dates, bills become legally late after 30 days - and if your service provider deems that you've agreed to their payment date by having signed-up to their service then, I understand, its 60 days.

Secondly, is 5 days for internal processing and updating of accounts a realistic standard nowadays. No sorry mates and matesses, that's way behind the curve.

I'm pretty sure that my bankers advice regarding the delivery date of the money to Eon is spot-on - even the old BACS money transfer system between banks can complete a transaction faster than 5 days.

Thirdly, the reminder was issued so swiftly after I'd made the payment that even I had to check that it had already been paid. Some people in busy working households might have paid it twice. That's the sort of trick that scamsters play.

Fourthly, If 5-days is the standard customer service time for account updating, why bother with a "Smart meter" ?

And, as to bothering the Regulator, well if Eon are doing this to hundreds of thousands of customers . . . .where's the notice telling customers to expect a 5 -day payment processing delay within the 14 day grace period - truth is, I suspect, that the 5-Day delay is Customer Service BS - shocking if it isn't.

Switched-on business ? - they couldn't switch-on if the four minute warning had sounded.

In the ComplainingCow customer service standard Eon are right down the bottom, one step above TalkTalk, who in turn are one step above BT ! Say no more.

N

Talldave

Since the reminder was issued 19 days after the bill, it looks like the system is setup up for their 14 day payment window and 5 day faffing around delay.

I doubt the regulator covers anything you think is a "bit sharp".

So they're dinosaurs but if you'd paid them on time, you wouldn't have an issue.

The issuing of the reminder wasn't synchronised to your payment, so any observations are irrelevant.

What has their accounting system got to do with smart meters?

If I don't like a company, I stop using them.

Unless_And_Until

Failing number 1: The bill was paid "On-time" @19:11 on 25th and, because the on-line payment request was made over 3 hours before 23:55, under the Faster Payments Agreement, which my bankers are signed-up to, it should have been transmitted by them and arrived with Eon the same day. It didn't arrive until the following day (26th) @ 07:42.

Failing number 2: Is that whilst the payment arrived with Eon @ 07:42 on 26th July, according to the advice I received from customer services their payments receipts system couldn't "See" the payment until one day later, 27th. Crumbs almighty ! I worked on the Banks part paper-based credit clearing system in the 1970s and even that worked quicker than Eon's current performance.If it hadn't we wouldn't be here to day !

Failing number 3. The fact that the issue of a reminder may not be linked or checked against the payment record before issue, from a legal liability point of view, is interesting and it allows them to get away with blue murder - what happened to due diilgence ?

As to Smart meters, they're flogging the idea of this to customers in that it will make the customer lives easier, but , the maintenance of the delusion that trouble-free relations for the customer will follow the installation of a smart meter, is untrue, if it is partly dependent on them having output accounting system which matches the input i.e. line balancing. It isn't happening. Incomplete follow-through on the marketing.

As regards the Late Payment regulations, residential consumers are in-effect subsidizing the utility companies to the extent of 15 days every 3 months, compared with commercial customers. If you are in effect paying early, shouldn't you get a better service than 5 day (6% delay on 90 days) on the accounting ?

As to other people putting up with worse . . . that's up to them.

The Americans must slavering at the thought that these !!!!!!s will be hitting the open market come "No-deal" on Halloween - Somebody will be getting a real Trick or Treat.

N

PennineAcute

What harm have you come to, for allegedly receiving an early reminder email? Are you out of pocket? If not, then what is the issue? If you have come to some harm, what is it?

Unless_And_Until

No cash loss . . . on this occasion. But a service quality loss, which could be monetised . . by lawyers no doubt.And when, in due course after Hallowene, the Americans take over these institutions for the betterment of man kind, it will be an 8% charge for everyday over and no questions asked as to whose fault caused the delay.

But the potential does exist. And where the bill amounts to nearly 1/4 of my monthly pension income, then, you might understand, that paying it twice, because of an error forced by tardy account updating would fall in the category of "Whata mistaka to maka".

Just imagine the effect and the outcry if the overnight accounts used by those other doyens of the "Fair" society, the currency and commodity traders, hedge fund traders were subject to a Faster payments failure and/or loss caused by a 5 day delay in accounts updates. It would be powdered wigs up Carey Street at dawn. But of course, they're not.

The unkind thought that the owner of said accounting system might be advantaged to some extent by letting it remain in this unsatisfactory condition in order to to save on investment costs of a new up-to-date system and to benefit his cash-flow consequent on customer double-pay errors, never raised a furrow . . of course !